Article made of cellophane



July 8, 1941. P, FEELEY ErAL 2,248,617

ARTICLE MADE 0F CELLOPHANE Filed Jan. 7, 1939 ATTORN E Patented July- 8, 1941 v ARTICLE MADE oF ci-:LLornANEl Paul Feeley and Dikran Dlngilian, New York, N. Y.

Application 2Ianuary 7, 1939, Serial No. 249,692

1 Claim.

This invention relates to articles made of Cel-' lophane, and to a method of making such 4artil Cellophane, as isl well-known, is flexible, trans'- parent sheet material. One of the main uses yof cellophane is for wrapping packages. It has also been proposed to use Cellophane for making articial owers and for other purposes where no structural strength is required.

'I'he present invention is based upon the discovery that articles vhaving considerable structural strength can be made from Cellophane. This is accomplished, according to' the invention, by incorporating between two layers of sheet Cellophane a relatively thick mass of crumpled Cellophane which is moistened and secured to the sheets of Cellophane by an adhesive. The laminated or sandwich-like structure thus produced can be formed into various desired shapes before the adhesive dries, and when the adhesive 'dries the resulting material becomes rigid and retains its shapendue to the properties -of the hardened Cellophane illler between the layers of sheet Cellophane. In its preferred form, the structural material is translucent, but nontransparent, and has a somewhat crinkly appearance which is unusual and attractive.

-In order to illustrate the nature ofthe invention, a specic example will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

with and soaked by the adhesive, or it may be scrap Cellophane similarly treated. It will be lunderstood that the term crumpled includes slred thickness, or by otherwise ridging or twistrelatively thick massesof Cellophane such as those made by folding the sheet Cellophane back onto itself a number of times to produce the deing the material. Over the Cellophane mass il therel is applied another sheet of Cellophane I2.

- the sheets oi Cellophane. When the material and the laminated material is theny formed into an article of any desired shape.4 When the adhesive dries, the filler solidifles and adheres to hardens, itcontracts slightly. The resulting material possesses considerable structural strength and rigidity.

Although the material according -to the inven-4 vv tion can be used for making various articles. it

f is particularly adapted for making articles which must have substantial ystructural strength, such as wastebaskets. The'basket illustrated in Figs.

2, 3 and 4 may be made-by wrapping asheet of material, and securing' it thereto by means of Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly broken,-

away, showing a sheet of structural Cellophane according to the invention; g Y- Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a waste basket made of the material illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing one 'mannerof applying the material to a formr Fig 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showinghow the bottom or' the basket maybe formed; and

Fig. 7 is a section illustrating a modified meth-I od of manufacture.

With reference to Fig. 1, the structural Cellophane material can be made by taking a sheet of Cellophane I0 and placing thereon a relatively thick mass of crumpled Cellophane Il which has been moistened with -a water-soluble adhesive; such as .dextrlne glue. The Cellophane used for this purpose may be sheet Cellopl'ianeA which has been crumpled or -bunched 'into a mass, and which has been thoroughly mixed adhesive, as shown in Fig. 3. Preferably, two or more layers of the laminated material are superimposed.' although a single layer may sumce, depending upon the thickness of the crumpled Cellophane used in making the laminated material. The bottom of thebasket may comprise a separate piece of laminated material secured in any convenient way to the side walls of the basket, or, as shown in Fig. 6, the bottom oi' the v basket may be formed integral withthe side Vwalls by bending the laminated material over' the end Il of the form, the material being folded bac-k onto itself or hunched, as illustrated in Fig.

4. Over the entire basket, .thus far described, there. may be applied an outer sheet of Cellophane, which can be secured by means of adhesive. v

According to another method the present invention, a hollow mold I i can be lined with a sheet ofC'ellophane, as best shown in Fig. 7, and the crumpled Cellophane material can bepacked against this sheet in-the interior of the mold. Another sheet of Cellophane can then be applied over the crumpled material and of carrying out A the mold, and allowed to dry. When the ad hesive dries out, the ller between the layers oi cellophane sets to a rigid condition, so that the resulting article retains its shape, and possesses considerable structural strength.

Although different types of adhesive may be employed, it is preferable to use a dextrine glue which may be made by dissolving 'dextrine in water to produce a paste. This type of adhesive is particularly advantageous in that it softens the Cellophane properly, and yet results in a iinished article which is translucent. Other suitable adhesives are those made by National Adhesives Company, Nos. 2D90, 2D375 and Cellu :um No. 370. If an animal glue is employed. it tends to give the article a much darker shade. The cellophane which is employed is preferably ordinary Cellophane,'that is to say, not moistlu'e--px-oolec'l. The term cellophane is not used herein in a technical sense, but means the flexible, transparent,material made from regenerated cellulose and commonly referred to as Cellophane.

What is claimed is: I

A hollow, translucent, self-sustaining article having curved walls consisting of material in the form oi' a sandwich composed of two outside layers of normally iiexible sheet cellophane having between them a thickmass ot crumpled Ceilophane covered with a clear and water-soluble adhesive which secures the thick mass of crumpled'Cellophane to the layers of sheet Cellophane. said sandwich-like walls being rigid whereby the article possesses suillcient structural strength so that it retains its shape in the absence of a supporting frame.

PAUL FEELEY. DIKRAN DINGILIAN. 

